Ed Wise
Clinical-Community Psychology, University of Wyoming, 1980
Current Positions
President, Mental Health Resources Health Service Provider, Psychology, TN
How did you become interested in Personality Assessment?
I became fascinated with personality assessment as a graduate student, where I received the humorous "Bag of Bones Award" from my fellow classmates for my belief in and commitment to the assessment process. I relished the detective work of ferreting out the nuances, seeming discrepancies and inherent contradictions of personality assessment.
Tell us about your current job. We are interested in hearing about the different things that people do who work in the area of personality assessment.
I am currently overseeing the daily clinical and administrative operations of multi-disciplinary group practice that provides two intensive outpatient programs. We have ongoing program evaluation and psychotherapy outcomes projects underway. I conduct personality assessments, disability evaluations, forensic evaluations, fitness for duty evaluations and risk for violence assessments. I also see long term psychotherapy clients.
What are the most interesting and/or meaningful aspects of your job?
The most meaningful aspects of my work involve trying to provide as many clients as possible the opportunity to change their lives. Measuring outcomes and wrestling with practice based research questions has always interested, concerned and intrigued me.
Tell us how you initially learned about and joined SPA.
One of mentors, Ted May, Ph.D., introduced me to SPA in the 1980's. In addition to providing outstanding workshops by leaders in the assessment field, SPA is a small, collegial group, which appeals to me. The quality of the workshops, and the opportunity to personally speak with leaders in the field, continues to make SPA a very unique organization.
How has SPA impacted or benefited you or your career?
SPA has had a significant impact on my practice and my career. SPA provides excellent training and workshops with distinguished leaders in the field. Accessing and benefiting from these endeavors has been priceless. Actually meeting and getting to know some of these individuals personally has been extraordinary in encouraging the development of my assessment and research skills. I was fortunate to have been asked by Greg Meyer, Ph.D., to serve as a Consulting Editor for JPA and this has been a wonderfully challenging and rewarding endeavor for a practitioner such as myself. It has allowed me to meet and work with some of the experts in the field and to call upon them for assistance and consultations.
As we look forward to SPA's 100th anniversary in 2038, what do you think is important in order for the field of personality assessment to thrive and to benefit others?
In order for personality assessment to thrive over the next 25 years I believe that we must continue to refine our abilities to make specific behavioral predictions with significant accuracy. We must demonstrate the clinical, behavioral, and business return on investment that assessment offers. In addition to our clinical values, we must understand how to work within and add value to the broader systems in which we operate, including addressing specific areas of concern in the health, legal / forensic, and business arenas.
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Membership in SPA offers many benefits - Subscription to the Journal of Personality Assessment, Research, Advocacy, Interest Groups, Exchange Newsletter, Annual Convention and more!
JPA Journal
Receive 6 Issues of the prestigious JPA Journal each year.
Interest Groups
Would you like to be more involved? Join an SPA Interest Group today - six groups to choose from!
Ask your favorite personality assessor what the biggest personality assessment convention is, and he/she will tell you it's the Annual Convention of the Society for Personality Assessment. Ask him/her what the best personality assessment convention is, and he/she will tell you it's the Annual Convention of the Society for Personality Assessment, held every March in a different city.
Each April, candidates statements and a Ballot for electing new members to the Board of Trustees is made available to Members, Fellows, Life Members or Life Fellows by the Nominations and Elections Committee. The persons elected to the Board take office in September.
The Society for Personality Assessment YouTube channel offers full-length lectures from past annual conventions and expert speakers in the field of personality assessment. A great resource to expand your knowledge.
How Therapeutic Assessment Works: Theory and Techniques - Presented by Stephen E. Finn, PhD. In this webinar, Dr. Stephen Finn, the main developer of Therapeutic Assessment, will explain the techniques of TA and how they relate to TA’s underlying theory of client change. This session is particularly suited to those who are new to TA, including graduate students, or who wish to deepen their understanding of its therapeutic mechanisms.